Pizarro: The end is very near for Campbell’s Camera 7 cinema

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Camera 7 Cinemas at the Pruneyard in Campbell announced it will close April 9, 2017. The theater is expected to reopen with a new name, Pruneyard Cinemas, in the fall, following an extensive renovation. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

South Bay movie goers will have one less option — at least for a while — after Sunday, when the Camera 7 at the Pruneyard in Campbell closes its doors. So if it was your heart’s desire to see “The Boss Baby” there, better get a move on.

That means Camera Cinemas will be down to just one venue just like it was when Nyblom, Jim Zuur and other investors opened Camera One in 1975. At various points in its 42-year history, the independent movie chain also operated the Los Gatos theater, the Towne on The Alameda, plus Camera One, Camera 3 and the now-defunct Camera 12 downtown — a boon for lovers of independent films, cult favorites and summer blockbusters alike.

The Towne was sold to India Movie Cinema in 2003, and the Los Gatos changed hands in 2012. Camera One closed in 2004 and is now home to the Anno Domini gallery, and Camera 12 was shuttered last summer. Only Camera 3 remains, and it’s honestly not in the best shape.

But there is some potential good news on the horizon: The city owns the building, and San Jose Mayor SamLiccardo‘s budget message included the first steps toward rehabilitating the aging cinema on San Carlos and Second streets.

PLAY BALL!: Baseball season is underway and that means its time for fans to start making their annual pilgrimages to San Jose’s Municipal Stadium, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The San Jose Giants will start getting fans pumped up about the season — it’s also the 30th anniversary of their affiliation with the big club in San Francisco — and their new manager, Nestor Rojas, at FanFest this Tuesday.

Gates open for the public 4 p.m., with a meet-and-greet with this year’s team going until 5 p.m. Fans will also get a chance to have the first look at this year’s Operation: Care and Comfort military trading card set. To top it all off, the Giants will play an exhibition game at 6 p.m. with another Giants’ affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats. Season ticket holders and ticket holders to the April 13 opening day game have admission to FanFest included. For everyone else, tickets start at $5. Get more information at www.sjgiants.com.

ARTISTIC POLITICS: Community gallery Works/San Jose has taken one of the great political phrases of the year — Kellyanne Conway‘s “alternative facts” — and turned it into the theme of its next art exhibition. Works invited artists to submit pieces for the show in response to the term, which quickly made it into the lexicon. “Alternative Facts” runs from Saturday through April 23, and there’s an opening reception at 7 p.m Friday in conjunction with this month’s South First Fridays art crawl.

Works is at 365 S. Market St., on the east side of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. You can see a preview of the exhibition online at www.workssanjose.org.

Sal Pizarro has written the Around Town column for The Mercury News since 2005. His column covers the people and events surrounding the cultural scene in Silicon Valley. In addition, he writes Cocktail Chronicles, a feature column on Silicon Valley bars and nightclubs.

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